Simple meals today (still recovering) and it’s Meatless Monday
Luckily, I love oatmeal and eat it happily year-round. So a breakfast of just oatmeal with milk and apple, though modest, is fine with me. That was Monday’s breakfast and will probably be the favored breakfast this week.
Lunch was a half banana on toast with peanut butter. Simple, fast and nutritious.
Dinner was my version of Cuban Home Food…black beans and rice. Black beans are one of the most nutritious of the legume family. Also, when you pair a legume with a grain (tonight = rice) or a dairy (tonight = grated cheddar cheese) the amino acids are completed and the result is a complete protein. Much cheaper than animal protein and suitable for Meatless Monday.
Making a batch of black beans from scratch, with the recipe Martha Stewart’s protégée, Lucinda Scala Quinn http://blog.madhungry.com/2011/02/recipes-from-todays-show-better-with-beans.html demonstrated on her February 28, 2011 show, “Better with Beans”, was quite easy. The resulting batch of beans is generous enough for several meals and gets tastier as it sits in your fridge. She had other good bean ideas on that particular show too.
Here are the beans soaking, a necessary pre-cooking step. I brought the beans to a boil, and then let them soak for one hour. I also could have just let them soak overnight in the fridge, but I didn’t have time. Also in the picture are the flavorings I used: garlic, onion and jalapeno pepper.
Here’s the bean recipe: http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/pot-of-beans I did the basic one, without olive oil, because I didn’t have any. The result was still good.
Dinner on Monday, Hunger Challenge Day #1. Black bean on rice, topped with grated cheddar cheese, accompanied by a green salad and Roquefort dressing.
With a salad, topped with my Safeway coupon Roquefort dressing, black beans and rice makes a very satisfying dinner.
